Welcome Back
by SadieG
Summary: Nightworld series. Ash returns to Briar Creek after a year of redeaming himself, but his homecoming isnt what he imagined. Where is Mary Lynette? And what happened in the past year to turn Briar Creek into the Devils Payground?
1. Chapter 1

Unexpected Homecoming

_Finally after a year of redeeming myself, I can finally return. I wonder what she has been up to for the past year? Does she even still want me? Well if she doesn't guess that means I'm of the hook with this whole soul mate thing…. Don't be stupid you'll never be of the hook, you may not have wanted it but you got it. And at least she's good looking._

Ash smirks to himself as an image of Mary Lynette finds its way into his mind.

_You got me there, guess there are worse people you could have as a soul mate. Although I could do without all the shin kicking, for a human she can do some damage._

Ash drives at a steady speed through the deserted road on his way to Briar Creek.

"Here I come Mare."

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"Ash" an evil smile appears on her pale face and her pure white teeth glisten from the light of the moon. "I've been waiting" Her silver eyes sparkle with excitement and danger, she licks her lips in a predatory fashion then lunges of the rooftop and heads towards Briar Creek.

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Ash reaches the outskirts of Briar Creek and instantly senses the presence of other night worlders.

"Shit" the feeling consumes him, he slows his car to a steady 20mph, his senses highten to try and seek out where the night worlders may be in this small town. "Bloody hell, they're everywhere. What the hell happened here?" his eyes widen with realisation and worry, "Mare, shit, Mare if anything happened to you I'll…" without finishing he puts his foot down and speeds in the direction of Mary Lynettes house.

As he reaches her house he notices it is exactly the same as the rest of the town has come to be, abandoned. He rushes inside hoping his senses where wrong but finds that he was right, the house was empty. The furniture was torn and scattered all over the house, windows broken, blood stains on the floors and ceilings, and not a soul around to explain why.

"Mare, where are you?" he asks allowed getting more and more worried now. Once he is sure the house was empty he rushes back to his car and heads to his sisters.

'_Rowan? Rowan! Answer damn it,'_

Ashs mind screams out for his sisters to hear him, first Rowan, then Kestrel, then Jade… Jade.

'_Jade? Where are you?'_

'_Ash? Oh god Ash! Hurry where at our house, hurry up!'_

Inside his head it goes quiet only his thoughts where there now,

'_Jade! Jade?'_

But she didn't answer.

Ash reaches his sisters house and rushes inside. The sight in front of him made him feel like a stake had been plunged into his gut.

"Mare?" he says barely above a whisper. In front of him, his sisters lie still with wood stakes pinning them to the floor, barely conscious. Over in the corner Mark was unconscious with blood all over him and teeth marks on his neck and wrist. Standing in the midst of all this blood and pain, was Mary Lynette. With a satisfied smile on her face and blood drying on her lips. She smiles evilly and says,

"Welcome back"


	2. Lair?

Chapter 2 Lair?

Ash stood in shock as he watches Mary Lynette stalk around his sisters pinned to the floor, running a finger across her lips she licks the tip removing any remaining blood from it.

"What? No Hug?" she asks smirking. Ash blinks forgetting all his shock and horror and turns on Mary Lynette,

"What happened to you?" he asked. Mare smiled happily and walked around to stand in front of him. She places a hand on his chest causing a static shock to run up his body, she smiles up at him having felt the surge as well.

"You" she answers simply. Ash looks down at her confused, he shakes his head and looks back at his sisters who are trying to remove the stakes from through their wrists. Ash grabs hold of Mary Lynette and holds her tight, looking straight into her eyes,

"This isn't you Mare, look what you did to them." He says turning her to look at the devastation in the room. She smiles simply and turns to him,

"Me, oh no. It wasn't just be my love." She says and steps back out of his embrace as a herd of vampires and werewolves stalk into the room. One vampire in particular steps out from the crowd and walks towards Mary Lynette, he kisses her passionately on the lips then turns to glare at Ash,

"So your Ash" he states then looks down at Mare who is happily standing in his arms, "I'm way better." He states simply. Mary Lynette smirks and looks at Ash who is standing in fighting stance, ready for a full out attack on him. Mare smiles and gets his attention by calling his name,

"This is Kyle, he's the one who turned me" she tells him waiting for the reaction she was expecting. Ash responded exactly how she had imagined, his eyes bore into Kyle as he glared through small slits, silver flashing through his eyes and his teeth extending. Mare smiles excited,

"Ooo, Ash so sexy" she says walking seductively towards him, "Whats the matter, did you want to do it?" she asks stroking a finger down her neck suggestively. Ash glares down at her but sadness flashes across his features,

"I'm sorry Mare," he whispers t her. Mary Lynette smiles but with a hint of sadness. She traces a finger around his features, causing his anger to plummet, he stress into her eyes that have now become soft however her face still help the evil that she had done throughout the year.

"Mare?" Ash speaks hoping she would come back to him as she once was. Mary Lynette blinks suddenly and her softness dissolves into anger. She turns to the herd of night worlders.

£Take him" she orders and storms back over to Kyle who was waiting expectantly. Ash shakes his head in disbelief,

"Mary Lynette!" he shouts "I know your in there!" he struggles against the herd of vampires and werewolves that are surrounding him. Finally one punches him square in the face knocking him out cold. Mare watches with a smirk on her face, although in her eyes sadness flashes through them.

From the ground below Mary Lynettes feet Kestrel watches what is happening struggling to get free from the stakes holding her to the floor. Pain sears through her body as the wood cuts through her wrists as she struggles, she looks up at Mary Lynette and sees the flash of sadness pass her expression.

_She's in there somewhere_

She thinks to herself. She turns to Rowan who is also trying to free herself, then she looks back up at Mare,

"So what about us then Mare?" she asks bitterly. Mare looks down at her and smirks,

"Well we could always send you back to the enclave, all the trouble you have caused us throughout our reign here. It's getting very tiresome" she says shrugging her shoulders. Kestrel glares up at her,

"And here I thought we were keeping you on your toes" she says sarcastically. Mare glares down at her,

"You lucky I haven't killed you get," she says. Kestrel sees her opening,

"So why haven't you?" she asks with a hint of hope in her voice. Mare hesitates, looking at an unconscious Ash being dragged out of the house by one of her following vampires, then looks at Kestrel without answering her question she simply tell another follower of hers to take the sisters and her brother to where they had taken Ash.

An hour later and Ash was bound with rope round his ankles and wrists. Along side him was Kestrel, Rowan Jade and Mark. All looking as if they had just survived a war. Well in a way they had. The ambush on their home had shocked them more than when Ash had showed up. At least that explained why they had ambushed them, they knew he would head there once he hadn't found Mary Lynette at her house. Ash looked around at his surroundings, he was in a small damp… cell. Where did they find a cell in Briar Creek? Finally finding his strength As pushes himself into a sitting position and looks at his sisters,

"Where are we?" he asks completely alert now. Kestrel still being more alert than the others answers,

"This would be Mary Lynettes Lair" she tells him with a hint of sarcasm. Ash raises an eyebrow,

"Her lair?" he asks sounding a little amused, "When Mary Lynette get a lair?" he asks.

"It happened 3 months after you left, Kyle was new in town, so Mary Lynette tried to befriend him, but obviously he had different ideas, as soon as they were alone. He turned her, guess he wanted a companion." Kestrel explains, sounding as if she had told the story a hundred times. In truth this was the first time she had told it, once Mary Lynette was turned Kestrel went colder than she had been before, having lost her blood sister and slowly losing her new home to Mary Lynette and her new vampire lover, she didn't know what else to do but go cold.

"I'll kill him," Ash growled with anger. Kestrel laughed bitterly,

"Don't think we didn't try," Finally Jade and Rowan found the strength to sit up and join in the conversation, Jade checking that Mark was ok first of course. Thankfully Mark was right next to her so she could easily tell he was alive, just seriously hurt, still losing some blood from the bite wounds.

"He isn't just a vampire Ash. He's also a VERY powerful witch" Rowan explains, "That's why we didn't know he was a vampire when he arrived, he hid it somehow." Rowan turned to Jade who hadn't spoke, "Jade? Is he ok?" she asks knowing that Mark being human would have taken the worst of it. Jade turned to her with tears in her eyes,

"He's barely breathing," she tells her, "He's lost too much blood, i… I have to…" before she can finish Ash butted in saying,

"Do it," they all look at him "Mare wouldn't wan the brother to die, do it now." Jade obeys and slashes her wrist with her nail and puts it to Marks lips. He stirs slightly and automatically starts to drink her blood. Tears fall from her eyes,

"I'm sorry"

Kestrel turns to Ash,

"Ash, Mare doesn't care anymore. She isn't the girl you left. When you were gone she… was so depressed, she cried every night. She wouldn't dare admit it but we knew, we could tell. You may have got of at the wrong foot but she did love you. When Kyle arrived she hoped he would take her mind of you. It did," finally allowing herself to stop she looks at Ash who was listening intently,

"She filled with hate and anger, everything she wanted you to rid yourself of, she absorbed." Rowan finished for her sister.

"Your wrong." Ash said flatly, "Mare isn't gone. She is still in there… somewhere. I saw her." He looks at kestrel then at rowan. "And I'm getting her back."

"Are you now…"


	3. Wiped Clean

Wiped Clean

All eyes turn towards the voice that cam from the door on the opposite side of the cell.

"Now Ash, you left, Poor Mare was devastated and no-one really knew. Well enough to help her. But I did. I got rid of the hurt, the pain… and you." Kyle stood with all his mighty in the doorway, Ash glares at him through the shadowed the cell, "She's mine now, soul mate or not, NO one can take her away from me. Not even you." Kyles glares at Ash was possessive eyes.

Mare sneakily stalks her way towards the cell and hears Kyle's little speech,

"Soul mate or not." Her eyes frown with confusion,

"Soul mate?" she wonders aloud but inaudible for Kyles ears to pick up.

_Why does that seem so familiar?_

Mare frowns annoyed at feeling confused, instead she brushes if of and heads towards the cell. Wrapping her arms around Kyle she places a kiss on his neck and eyes Ash.

"May I join the party?" she asks as she ducks under Kyles arms which are leaning against the door frame and walks further into the cell.

"Now. What this about soul mate?" she asks not even trying to hide the fact that she heard them talking. Kyle looks at Ash warningly then back at Mare,

"Nothing, just myths…"

"Mare? Do you remember me?" Ash asks ignoring Kyle talking. Mare turns to him and smiles evilly,

"Of course I do sexy. You came here a year ago to take these three back to the enclave, but instead you fell in love." She smirks and rolls her eyes, "With me of all people. God knows why," she laughs then stops suddenly, "Wait. You don't thing we're soul mates do you?" she asks sounding very amused. Ashs eyes wonder to where Kyle stand looking uneasy but allowing this little conversation to continue. He returns his gaze to Mary Lynette who is waiting for a reply, he finally thinks of the only thing that may being his Mary Lynette back to him,

"How bout you kiss me and we find out," he suggests with hope in his eyes. Kyle suddenly moves from his position by the door.

"Mare…" before he can finish Mary Lynette kneels down to Ashs level and within a second her lips crash into his. From beside them his sisters watch with hope in their hearts.

"Come on Ash" Kestrel whispers.

"_What is this?" Mares voice echoes in his mind, Ashs figure forms in his mind and stand next to Mary Lynette who is looking around confused,_

"_This is what having a soul mate is" she says walking towards her. She looks at him confused,_

"_Soul mates, sure. I only kissed you to piss Kyle of. Well and you are hot" she says. Ash smiles slightly trying to push his memories into her. _

"_Don't you remember Mare, a year ago. When we met. When I left?" he asks with hope in his voice. Mare frowns_

"_I told you I did, so what, you left not like I loved you." Sadness crossed Ashs face, _

"_What did Kyle do to you Mare? You may be a vampire now but you should still be able to remember. Unless…"_

_Mare frowned a little interested in what Ash was saying,_

"_Unless what?" she asks a little sarcastically. Ash looks at her then dives into her past memories. He wasn't there. No where inside her mind that he could reach. _

"_What are you doing? Stop it!" Mary Lynette yells._

"_He's powerful alright. Wiping your memory clean like that." Ash ignores Mary Lynette cries and continues to search for any recognition of last year. Finally he finds it, "Mare!" he shouts as he sees the memory play out in the very depth of her memory of him leaving her "Mare!" he shouts again. Finally a voice echoes in her mind._

"_Ash?"_

Suddenly a hand yanks Ash and Mary Lynette away from each other destroying the connection between them. Ash looks into Mary Lynettes eyes hoping to find her staring back for a split second he did, but it quickly disappeared replaced with hard and cold glaring eyes. Mary Lynette punches him around the face sending his head flying back to hit the wall behind him. Kyle pulls Mary Lynette to her feet,

"Asshole." He says and leads her out the cell. Mary Lynette sneaks one last glance at Ash and his sisters before closing the cell door behind them.

"Well that didn't work" kestrel says slouching against the wall.


	4. Escape

Chapter 4 - Escape

Mary Lynette and Kyle lock the door behind them, Mare turns back to the look at the door before following Kyle through the halls of her school turned lair. Finally reaching what was once the old chemistry classroom, Mare closes the door behind her and turns to Kyle. Who still looks annoyed as ever,

"What was that?" she asks getting angry that once again she is confused, Kyle glares towards her then in one instance is standing in front of her holding her arms firmly in his grasp,

"Do NOT do that again, you hear me" he shouts anger consuming him, Mare is startled at his outburst but soon recovers, she tears out of his grasp and smacks him round the face,

"Do NOT shout at me!" she yells and storms of past him, "You dare touch me again and I'll kill you." Kyle smirks then laughs evilly,

"Now Mary Lynette, you know better than that, you may be the boss of all the vampires here, but I'M the boss of you." He stats flatly, "You do what I say, when I say." Mary Lynette raises an eyebrow as if he was challenging her,

"You do not…"

"Come here." Kyle stops her and without question Mary Lynette is walking over to him, Kyle smirks and takes her in his arms and places a passionate kiss on her lips,

"I own you, nothing you do can change that my love." He whispers in her ears. Mare stares blankly as if in a trance, then looks up at him questioningly,

"Why are we just standing here, don't we have people to eat?" she asks forgetting everything that had happened before hand, Kyles lips turn up at the sides into a dangerous smirk,

"Yes boss,"

Ash rubs his head in pain from being hit by Mary Lynette and by the wall behind him,

"Prick" he curses angry that Kyle tore them apart before he had a chance to truly get through to Mare,

"Yeh, she hit you good." Kestrel says trying to get free from her new restraints; Ash glares at her and pulls violently at his chains that are connected to the floor, (changed them to chains as ropes wouldn't hold them lol)

"So I take it you couldn't get through to her?" Jade asks from where she is stroking Marks hair waking for him to awaken. Ash looks at her with a blank face, he thinks back to what had happened in Mary Lynettes head,

"No, he pulled us apart before I could. But…she is still in there. Just before he pulled us apart I heard her, she was trapped. I couldn't find any memory of what really happened last year, that Kyle jerk wiped her memory," he explains.

"Well that's explains why she doesn't care about you anymore, and us. But what about Mark she let her vampire lackeys do that to him, even though she cant remember last year she should still remember Mark and she still let that happen." Rowan says pointing towards where Marks limp body lay. Ash stares at him anger apparent in his eyes,

"You don't get it, I couldn't find any memory of last year, but I also couldn't find Mary Lynette, our Mary Lynette, all I saw was anger and pain. No love, nothing that connects to our Mare. All I got was a faint voice, she is still in there but she cant seem to get out. She's trapped in her own mind, Kyle trapped her, and I wont let him keep her like that." He pulls at his chains once again with the full force of his strength behind it, after several yanks, the chains loosen and the bricks in which the chains are connected to become lose. One more yank and his chains are free from the concrete. Ash hurries to his feet and rushes to the door, checking that no one is guarding them, which to his surprise no one is,

"Stupid git," he heads back over to his sisters and pulls at the chains releasing them on the second pull each time.

"We need to feed, we wont be able to be of any help if we don't," Rowan states already trying to form a plan. "They have live stock down in the basement, but we wont be able to get down there without alerting someone." Ash kneels down at Marks side,

"Yo mate, time to wake up." He says nudging him in the side. Mark flutters his eyelids and slowly starts to move his hands which are still bound but at least he is free from the concrete as the others were now.

"God I could eat a cow," he says with a croaky voice, Ash smirks for a second then stands up pulling him up to his feet. Jade quickly checks him over and explains how he had to change him to save him. Mark smiles unaffected by the news,

"Don't worry Jade, I knew the day would come soon enough. I weren't going to survive this battle being human." He explains. Jade smiles sadly and kiss him softly on the lips.

"You need to feed, we all do." She says turning to her sisters who nod in agreement.

"You guys go feed, I'll catch up." Ash says heading for the door once more. Kestrel glares in his direction,

"Don't eve think about it Ash, you cant take him now, not when your weak, you need to feed just as much as we do…"

"I'm not going after Kyle, I'm getting Mary Lynette," he states simply. Kestrel snorts,

"And you think you can do that without running into Kyle, that guy doesn't leave her for a second. It's like if he does his spell will wear of," she says not realsing the glint of hope in Ashs eyes,

"Well lets see if it does," before anyone can say anything else he rushes out the door in search of his soul mate.


	5. Blood stains

If anyone is reading this please review! This is my first night world fanfic since I started reading the series of books and if no one likes it then I wont bother continuing it. So please let me no wot u think and if u want me to continue it.

Chapter 5 – Blood stains

Getting out of the school turned lair was difficult what with all the night worlders wandering the around on every floor and guarding the buildings every entrance and exit. Thankfully Rowan, Jade, Kestrel and Mark were strong enough to fend of two of the guards in order to escape. Eventually they reach the forest looking for any wild animals that they can feed on to regain their strength,

"I cant believe we just let him go, he;s crazy." Jade says cursing her once hated brother for just leaving on his reckless quest to bring back Mary Lynette.

"Yeh well that's Ash for ya, when was he ever sane?" Kestrel remarks,

"Do you think he can bring her back? Mare, do you think he'll get through to her?" Mark asks with hope and despair clear in his voice, Jade looks at him sadly, poor Mark compared to her he was only a kid and look at what he has to deal with, his sister dying and turning into a vampire, going crazy and turning their home into the devils playground, then torturing her family, and now he has to deal with his own need to feed and kill to survive, he didn't deserve any of this.

"I don't know Mark, I sure hope so. If anyone can get through to her it'll be him." Rowan answers him as they continue to hunt.

Ash stalked through the halls of the school violently searching for his soul mate, every corridor, every room had her scent in it, making it difficult for him to home into her present location. Thankfully the soul mate connection wasn't completely gone and he just kept following where ever his heart took him. Finally he reached what looked to be once the main hall of the school, however instead of paintings and posters and art work stapled around the place, blood stains, animal skins and to his disgust humans where pinned to the walls. Ash eyes couldn't look away from the pain and fear on the humans faces, once back in his day of destruction he would have found this sight very amusing but now after a year of redeeming himself, trying to undo all his wrong doings, he realised just how awful the sight was. And for once in his life the smell of fresh human blood made him feel sick. Especially when he caught sight of his soul mate enjoying herself as she feeds upon one of the unwilling victims.

"Mare" he chokes out unable to stop his eyes from filling with water, but as soon as they appear his tears dry and his dread turns into anger as he spots the one person that caused all this destruction, the one that took his soul mate from him and made her hurt the people she loved. Kyle. There he was in all his glory watching as Mary Lynette tore through the humans flesh and drank deep, an evil smile never once leaving his face. Ashs anger erupts and without warning he sprints across the hall and lungs onto Kyle, without a word he pounds down onto Kyles face never once stopping to notice all the peering faces of night worlders that are slowly gathering around him. Mary Lynette being on of them.

I no it's a short chapter but I want to no if anyone wants me to continue. Just review and let me no and the next chapter will be up shortly.


	6. Back Up

Thank you for reviewing Strawberry Sweetie, I'm glad you like the story, I didn't no if anyone would as it is showing a darker side of Mary Lynette but no need to worry, the mushy stuff will be coming lol. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Chapter 6 - Backup

"Well I'm stuffed," Kestrel states calmly as they walk back through the woods after having caught a deer to feed on. She licks her lips satisfied then the look in her eyes turn fiery, "Now time for the real hunt," she says as she picks up her pace eager to get back to the school and cause havoc,

"Kes, first we need to get back in, and there's like hundreds of night worlders in there, we might need help," Rowan tells her younger sister trying to be the rational one. Kestrel rolls her eyes and continues her speed not slowing in the slightest,

"Well sis unless you have an arm tucked away somewhere we're all we got, you wanna just leave Ash and Mare in there?" she asks finally turning to face Rowan,

"No but we need backup, if we lose then this may become yet another enclave, and that would be bad… very bad." Kestrel relents slightly,

"Fine, what did you have in mind?" Rowans face becomes very firm, her eyes closing in concentration,

_Ash? Ash? You there?_

_Not a good time Row_

_Ash, is there anyone we can call for help? We cant take them all on our own._

_Shit!_

_What?! _

_Nothing, Thierry, head of the day breakers, get him. He's in Las Vegas _(please let me no if that's wrong and he lives somewhere else lol) _go now and hurry._

_Don't be a fool, we're not leaving you…._

_Go now damn it…. Shit!_

_Ash?...Ash?_

Rowans eyes opened and fear filled them,

"Ash is in trouble," before she could say anything else Kestrel was already heading to the school, Rowan rolled her eyes at her sisters eagerness which could end up getting her killed. She turned to Jade and Mark,

"Go to Las Vegas, your looking for a guy called Thierry, he;s the head of circle daybreak." She says in a hurried voice then quickly follows Kestrel towards the school. Mark and Jade watch the two go then look at each other,

"I think we'll need wheels,"

Back in the school Ash was lying bloodied up on the floor, his eyes barely open. Kyle walks over looking as if the fight hadn't even caused him to sweat, however despite his appearance, he was breathing heavily and he had a slight bloodied nose where Ash had bundled him.

"You will never win Ash, so why try. What are you fighting for? I mean really, Mary Lynette, she don't want you, she loves me, your nothing to her…" Ash jumps to his feet, new energy surging through his veins driven by the words that Kyle was pouring out of his mouth, his eyes bore into him like daggers, Kyle smirked enjoying that his efforts to annoy Ash were working out perfectly, without a word of retaliation Ash once again lungs for Kyle, however this time instead of landing on Kyle his ends up on top of Mary Lynette who had jumped in front of Kyle in a split second it took Ash to lung from his position to where they were now. Shock filled Ash eyes as he realises that he had accidentally thrown Mary Lynette to the floor instead of Kyle,

"Mare?" he whispers needing not to raise his voice as they are close enough that there lips were mere centimetres from each other, a surge of light courses through both their bodies from the contact they were receiving from one another, Mares eyes once again fill with confusion,

"What's happening?" she asks unable to stop herself, Ash smiles slightly feeling the warmth of her voice and the confusion. "What are you doing to me?" she asks her voice now sounding irritated and angry, the smile disappears from Ash face,

"Mare please, you have to remember, I know you can, your stronger than this. Your stronger than Kyle," Mary Lynettes eyes glimpse over to Kyle who was slowly descending upon them,

"Kyle," she whispers more to herself than anyone else,

"_Now Mary Lynette, you know better than that, you may be the boss of all the vampires here, but I'M the boss of you." He stats flatly, "You do what I say, when I say." Mary Lynette raises an eyebrow as if he was challenging her, _

"_You do not…" _

"_Come here." Kyle stops her and without question Mary Lynette is walking over to him, Kyle smirks and takes her in his arms and places a passionate kiss on her lips,_

"_I own you, nothing you do can change that my love."_

Mary Lynettes eyes fill with tears, Ash who has now moved his postion so that he isn't crushing her, moves a stray hair back behind her ears, completely absorbed in Mary Lynette he doesn't notice Kyle behind him. Then suddenly his mind goes into darkness.


	7. New Accommodations

Chapter 7 – New Accommodations

Kestrel and Rowan reach the school and notice that the guards were still lying dead on the floor, it appears no one had even noticed they had escaped, or…

"It's a trap," Kestrel states simply, Rowan looks at her then back at the entrance and nods,

"Your right, no way they don't know we escaped what with Ash…" she cuts herself of feeling even more worried about her brother, his life force was faint, only a little while ago it had grown, been stronger than she had sensed from him in a while but now he seemed barely alive. "We better hurry," Kestrel took that as a sign to go, she made her way to the entrance with stealth, keeping bother her eyes and her senses open to attackers, but instead the oddest thing happened. They both reached the entrance with no attacks, no sneak defence systems and no ambush,

"Ok that's weird," Rowan says looking around her surrounding with concern, "Why are there no guards?" she asks. Kestrel shrugs,

"Looks like luck has finally turned to our side," she says an starts to walk down the hall calmly but even though she looked calm every one of her senses were working on over load. Finally as they reach the end of the corridor they start to hear yelling and cursing coming from what they presumed was what used to be the old hall of the school,

"Well this must be where the party is," Kestrel says and stalks her way over to the door and peers in, the sight she is met with makes her gut ache, Ash and Kyle appeared to be having a face of, and the entire nightworld from Briar Creek were their audience, including Mary Lynette. Rowan peers through after her sister and as Kestrel did her heart ache,

"Ash you idiot," she curses him under her breathe, "Your gunna get yourself killed,"

"Not if we intervene" Kestrel says more then willing to barge in on the party and start spilling blood, Rowan grabs her hand and holds her in place firmly,

"If we go in we'll be killed as well as Ash, if we die, who will help Mary Lynette?" she asks looking at the young girl who was once her blood sister, Kestrel highs heavily choking out her words,

"I don't think she wants to helped Rowan, look at her. She's enjoying this," Rowan sees the smile on Mary Lynettes lips and for once agrees with Kestrel,

"But even so, Ash would want us to, if he dies he'll be relying on us to help her, so we cant Kes, we have to wait for this Thierry guy," Kestrel breathes heavily,

"So we're just meant to watch, watch Ash get killed by that…"

"Kes look," Rowan points to where Ash now lie on top of Mary Lynette in the middle of the big crowd, Kestrel looks and her eyes fill with surprise when Mary Lynette doesn't throw him straight of her, using her advance eyesight she looks at Mary Lynette face and sees the expression there, of confusion and a little fear,

"He's right." She says silently but Rowan hears, she looks up at her questioningly, Kestrel looks down at her, "She's still in there somewhere,"

Mark and Jade had finally found a working car and were speeding in the direction of Las Vegas,

"They better not die while we're gone," Jade says pouting a little that she couldn't go back with them to let out her anger and pain with a good fight, Mark smiles softly and lays a hand on her leg in an attempt to reassure her,

"They'll be fine," he says also trying to reassure himself.

_I hope_

He thinks, Jade smiles slightly having heard his thought knowing that he wouldn't have realised that she had, she grasp his hand on her leg and squeezes it softly giving him the reassurance he needs, before letting him put both his hands back on the wheel.

"I love you," she says Mark smiles with happiness for the first time in a long while, and turns his head to meet her gaze,

"I love you too,"

Mary Lynette watches as Ash is picked up violently and carried back to his cell, however this time the cell they take him to is smaller, darker and filled with rotting corpses of their old victims, of course these corpses wouldn't sustain his hunger as they were completely drained of blood, all this room offered was a foul smell of rotting flesh and dried blood.

"Are you ok Mare?" Kyle asks taking her arms in his hand softly, Mare tears her eyes from the exit door the vampires had taken Ash through and stares up at Kyle with what looks like hurt in her eyes,

"I'm just fine," Kyle smiles softly, then kisses her on the forehead, he walks off in the direction they had taken Ash now even noticing the look of hatred and pain still plainly in Mary Lynettes eyes.

Kestrel and Rowan watch where the vampire lackies take Ash and follow a distance behind them making sure they now the exact direction to their brothers cell.

_Don't worry Ash, we'll get you out in no time," Kestrel thinks hoping he will hear her._


	8. To the Rescue

Chapter 8 – To the rescue

The floor was hard the air stale, the sound the rats rustling around echoed in the cold damp room. No one would be able to tell that this room used to be the caretakers room of the school, in a way it still was since the caretaker lie just a couple of feet away from where Ash now sat expressionless staring into the darkness. He had thought that maybe he'd finally got through to Mary Lynette with the look in her eyes when he was lying on her, but she had not come to see him, had not helped him escaped. His eyes cast down at the heap of bodies that lie motionless on the floor, the fear that could still be seen on their faces,

"Oh Mare, I'm sorry I left you. This wouldn't have happened if I had just stayed," he spoke softly slowly giving up the last bit of hope that he had been clingy to for so long, when suddenly…

"Kes behind you," Rowan shouted as another guard came swinging a baseball bat that he had taken from the P.E supply room, Kestrel jumps into the air and kicks her foot out hitting the back of her attackers head as he continues to run into the wall and collapses to the floor. Kestrel rolls her eyes as she lands and looks to see the unconscious vampire lying on the floor looking dazes,

"You're a disgrace to our race mate," she says then throws a punch at his face knocking him out completely. Rowan was fending of her attackers one by one, using her new weapon that she had taken from the first attacker. A hockey stick that obviously he too took from the P.E cupboard, she spun the stick round in her hand keeping any attacker at a close distance form her, then once they dared get close enough she hit with enough force to knock them all onto their backs. Kestrel who now had the baseball bat but had shattered it in half was going around staking each vampire that was lying on the ground, she made her way to Rowans crowd of attackers and started taking them out also. Rowan looked at her questioningly, Kestrel smiles at her as she stakes the last one,

"What, we don't need them waking up when we are trying to escape," Rowan smiles in agreement and heads towards the caretakers room, she peers in the window and sees Ash slowly getting to his feet,

"Well at least he aint unconscious anymore," Kestrel says kicking the door open, "Rowan and Kestrel to the rescue," she says smugly as Ash looks at them, he smirks and walks toward the door,

"Bout time you got here," Ash says walking out the room, the last of his despair fading away and his cockiness returning to show his strength. Rowan rolls her eyes at her brother and drags him by the arm out the doorway completely and leads him into the hallway, Kestrel follows. Ash looks a round at all the mummified vampires and smirks,

"Take it you 2 had fun then," Kestrel smiles that shows a hint of evil that still remains in her,

"Damn right we did,"

Mary Lynette is walking around the school looking into each classroom as she goes, memories floating into her head about all the classes she once had in them, but now they were simply filled with vampires and werewolves and shape shifters. All talking about the fight between Kyle and Ash, she rolls her eyes as they laugh at how Kyle had knocked Ash out with just one strike while Mary Lynette had kept his mind of the fight. She continues down the hall for a few more minutes then finds herself walking towards Ashs cell, she looks into the hall leading to his room and noticed that the guards are all lying still on the floor, using her enhanced senses she realises that they are all dead…well deader than usual and the room that Ash had been placed in was now only filled with the dead victims of past suppers. Anger sparks in her eyes as she follows the scent of Ash and what appears to be only 2 of his sisters, she wonders where the others had got to. Then decides that they must be too scared and had left town leaving these three alone,

"They cant possible be thinking they can take us all," she says aloud as she descends down the corridors, "They're crazy, if they had any brains at all they'd be getting out of here now," she continues to rant to herself, wondering why she isn't reporting this escape to her vampire lackies so that they can track them down. Then the memory of what Kyle had said to her once again flashed into her mind, "What the hell did he mean by that, he don't own me. I should kill him just for suggesting that he does. So why the hell didn't I?" her pace becomes faster and her footsteps heavier as anger consumes her being, "I should kill them all, they all think they can defeat me, control me, ha. Well I'll show them, I'll burn this town to the ground, with everyone still inside it, humans and night worlders the lot, then no one will think of ever trying to defeat me." She continues down the corridor with ambition and determination in her eyes, "I'll show them," she repeats.

Ash looks out of the room they had been hiding in when they heard Mary Lynette ranting, he listened carefully to what she was saying fear swelling up in him, she couldn't possibly mean it, she couldn't. No way would Mary Lynette, his Mary Lynette do the things she was saying and he'd make her realise that. Without a word to his sisters he exits the room and follows Mary Lynette, realising that through all her ranting and anger she couldn't sense him approaching,

"Mare?" he says quietly when he finally gets a safe enough distance to her, Mary Lynette stops in her tracks, shock filling her features, why hadn't she senses him, shit. All that ranting of hers had taken her mind away from her surroundings; he had out smarted her and closed in on her when she was unguarded and unready. Mary Lynette spins around and faces Ash, her eyes boring into him, "Mare?" Ash repeats edging closer to her, her eyes flash silver and without warning she prancing on him as he had her in the main hall, although he hadn't meant to. Ash fell back with Mary Lynette straddling him, her teeth at full length and her features showing her readiness to attack full force. Ash looks into her eyes ignoring everything else, hoping to see some part of his Mary Lynette surface, "Mare it's me, come baby I know your in there, just talk to me" he says trying once again to get through to her. Mary Lynette growls deep in her throat trying to tear her eyes of his but finding it extremely difficult. Her hand moves slightly up his arm to a place on his top that is torn from all the fights he had been in, her hand touches his bare skin and a surge of what feels like electricity makes its way through her body, her eyes change slightly once again filling with some fear and confusion, her grip weakens on his arms and this time she is staring in his eyes,

"Tell me what is happening to me, why doe this happen every time we touch?" she asks, Ash smiles slightly,

"I told you Mare, this is what its like to be soul mates, that's what we are. Cant you remember?" he asks forcing her with his eyes to remember, Mary Lynette shakes her head but not as a 'No' but as if she is trying to put together some sort of memory of what Ash is talking about. Finally she looks back at him having let go of his arms completely and now just sat u with her legs still holding him to the floor, Ash uses his arms to sit himself up so he can look at her face,

"You left" she says forcing herself to remember more, "You loved me but you left," she shakes her head unable to remember much else, or at least much else that seemed relevant, Ash nods slightly but sadly,

"Yes, I loved you. I still love you. Mary Lynette I left for you, so that when I returned we could be together, I needed to prove myself, show you that I could change and be a good man, and…and you… loved me." He struggle to ay the last part, unsure himself if she really did love him in the first place. Mary Lynette looks at him and frowns,

"I did?" she asks as if he had just told a joke, "I don't remember loving you Ash," she tells him simply. Ash nods sadly looking away from her,

"I know…" he looks up at her, "But there might be a way to help you remember," h tells her with hope in his voice, Mary Lynette lifts an eyebrow in question,

"How?" she asks sounding interested. Ash doesn't answer but simply pulls her down to meet his lips and holds her in a soft kiss.


	9. I Remember

Chapter 9 – I remember

Rowan and Kestrel watched as Ash and Mary Lynette talk in the corridor looking out for any night worlders that may descend the corridors. Their eyes widen when they Ash pull Mary Lynette into a kiss and see no resistance from her to stop him,

"Well, that was unexpected," Kestrel says with a sly smile on her, "But we should have none he wouldn't be able to resist the position he was in," Ash and Mary Lynette were still on the floor, with Ash being pinned to the floor by Mary Lynette straddling him at the waist, her hands on the floor supporting her wait with Ash using one of his hands to hold her lips to his and his other to keep him sitting up. Rowan smiles and looks up at her sister,

"I think this time he'll get through to her," Kestrel nods in agreement and continues to survey the area around them to keep any unwelcome visitors from ruining the opportunity that had dropped into their hands.

Jade and Mark were getting closer and closer to Las Vegas, Jade was now driving giving Mark the chance to have some rest but no matter how tired they were they couldn't sleep, knowing that they left Rowan, Kestrel and Ash to take on that whole 'lair' on there own.

"We're nearly there," Jade states and looks at Mark, who once again looks hungry, as a new vampire he needs a lot of blood to keep his strength up, "We'll stop to feed…"

"No," Mark cut her of, "We don't have time, when we get to Las Vegas then I'll feed, I'll be fine," he tells her. Jade nods understanding why he doesn't want to stop, the longer they take the longer her sisters and brother are left without any back up.

"Ok, we should get there within the next hour, maybe sooner." She tells him and put her foot down allowing the car to reach 80mph on a 60mph road.

_The fog in her mind was all around, know wonder she couldn't remember anything, it was hard enough for Ash to find the memories and he knew what he was looking for, Mary Lynette is standing with her arms folded over her chest waiting for him to show her whatever he was looking for, getting in patient she starts to drive through his memories hoping it would amuse her. Ash feels Mary Lynette search through his memories and allows his memories of last year to be revealed, deciding that would have been a much easier idea in the first place he joins her in his own mind. Mary Lynette watches as his memories play out to her like a video in a VCR, she looks at Ash who was standing watching them also, a look of longing in his eyes when Mary Lynette plays out her part of the memory,_

"…_slay the dragons," she says. Mary Lynette frowns then looks at Ash,_

'_Dragons?" she question, he smiles amused,_

"_Not real dragons, I went of to redeem myself for you like I told you. I turned my back on the night world and joined circle daybreak,' as he explains a memory of his past year plays out, he is in Thierry's house walking into his room and sits down on the side of his bed, " I miss you Mare, but I'll be back soon, 5 months left and then I'll return to you," he walks to the window and looks up at the dark sky, "I wonder if your looking at the sky too," he wonders allowed. _

_Ash looks at Mary Lynette focusing on her expression, then she turns to him and speaks,_

"_I wasn't, I was killing people in this town, pinning them up to walls and draining them of their blood, the only time I looked up at the sky was when the sun was out, I was cursing it hating how it made me feel weak." She tells him bitterly, in spite of herself a tear falls from her eyes, "I don't remember any of this," she tells him her image fading from his mind. Ash follows her to her mind and takes her hand,_

"_Mary Lynette, I love you," he tells her hoping more than anything that she would try one more time to remember, Mary Lynette looks at him and her eyes cloud with despair,_

"_I know you do," she closes her eyes and in that instance a image appears in her mind, its Mary Lynette and Ash in her living room, Ash was sitting on a chair talking to her mother and Mary Lynette looked like she wanted to stake him there and then._

_Ash watches a smile on his face remembering that day, they had just found out that they were soulmates._

_Mary Lynette gets up from the chair and follows Ash to the door, after arguing with him for a minute she kicks him in the shin._

_Ash laughs out loud remembering how much Mary Lynette enjoyed kicking him in the shin, he looks at Mary Lynette whose eyes are still closed, she finally opens them and the memory fades into nothingness, _

"_That's the first time I have remembered that," she told him. Ash smiles and takes a step towards her, "I felt… I felt happy, in that memory." She admitted, Ashs smile widened, _

"_Yes, you loved kicking me in the shin," he told her. Mary Lynette smiles slightly then raises an eyebrow,_

"_So why do you get the impression I loved you?" she asks. Ash shrugs and closes the distance between them,_

"_You tell me," Mary Lynette looks up into his eyes then once again she closes hers._

'_I'll come back in a year, I'll change for you," Ash tells Mary Lynette who looks as if she is going to cry although her features are hard and controlled,_

"_Slay those dragons for me," she tells him. And they hug briefly before Ash turns and leaves. Mary Lynette can feel, his resistance to leave her and she herself had that same resistance to let him but they both knew this had to happen._

_Ash watches the memory feeling the pain he felt that day come to the surface,_

"_I shouldn't have left you," he says looking at Mary Lynette who was now looking up at him, her eyes filled with realisation,_

"_I did love you," she tells him, she looks at the memory as it plays out one more time. Little parts of the conversation that weren't there the first time being added in as she remembered more and more. Soon the memory fades and an event of the previous days flash through her mind, killing the werewolf in the woods, her car in flames, Ash hurt, her fear for him and her love._

_She looks up at Ash who hadn't taken his eyes of her as she watched the memories,_

"_I remember," she tells him with what appears to be relief in her voice, Ash smiles and lets out a relieved sigh._

"_I knew you would Mare, I always knew you would." He tries to embrace her but she takes a step back. Then her mind slips away from him completely._


	10. He's Dead

Please keep reviewing, I rather like this story but I wont continue to write it if no body is reading it. So if you r please review and let me no what u think.

Chapter 10 He's dead

Ash looks up at Mary Lynette who had stood up from straddling him and walked towards the window in the corridor looking out on the town below, her eyes fill with tears as her memories flood into her mind,

"I trusted him, Kyle. I welcomed him to Briar Creek, treated him as a friend. Helped him make friends, and that's exactly what he did, he _made_ himself friends, he turned me, he turned my neighbours, he turned my class mates. And I helped him. The rest he left for food, treating them like cattle, then they came, the werewolves, the shape shifters, even more vampires decided to join the _party, _as we called it. We turned my home into a slaughter house, killing anyone we liked and turning anyone we _really _liked, no mercy, no regret. We tortured people, we killed my family…. Oh god, my family… I killed them." Her voice finally breaks and her tears come out uncontrollably, she turns to see Kestrel and Rowan standing next to Ash watching her, she could no longer see the wounds she and her lackies had caused them but she knew where they had been, "I'm so sorry," she cries finally breaking down from all the pain and regret and despair she was now feeling. Ash rushes to her side, "I knew what I was doing, but I didn't care. I just… I couldn't care, I wanted to, I wanted to stop…. But…. But I just couldn't, something made me do it… I… I hated myself, I couldn't stop myself. I felt trapped, like someone else was…" her eyes widen as she remembers back to what had dawned on her in the main hall,

"_You do what I say, when I say."_

"…Kyle," her eyes darken and her teeth sharpen as her animal instincts take over, "I'll kill him, he was controlling me…"

"He wiped your memory, you couldn't control what you did Mare, it's not your fault," Ash told her. Mary Lynette looks up at him with anger and hatred in her eyes but for the first time since he had got there it wasn't aimed at him,

"No, it's his, he controlled me, he made me forget. He made me kill my…." She broke of unable to get the words out as she remembers how she had made her family welcome herself and Kyle into their house, offered him to stay for dinner, and of course, they did. Tears well up in her eyes once more, she growls deeply, "He's dead," she says then takes of down the hall.

"Mary Lynette!" Ash shouts but she ignores him and continues on her way, he turns to his sisters with desperation in his voice and eyes, "If Kyle finds out she remembers he'll make her forget again…. Or worse, he'll kill her. We have to stop her," he tells them and they all take of down the corridor after Mary Lynette.

Mark and Jade finally reach Las Vegas, now all they had to do was find this Thierry guy,

"Well it cant be too hard he is head of circle daybreak," Mark says as they drive slowly through the streets of Las Vegas,

"Yeh probably every night worlder is after him, maybe they could tell us," she suggests as she scopes out a night world club, when she finds one she swerves the car into the parking lot, she turns to Mark who had a look of surpise in his eyes, she smiles sweetly, "I had to park the car," she tell him innocently, Mark smiles at her sweetness and opens the car door, he looks around the parking lot and then finds the door of the club,

"You ready?" he asks Jade, she smiles

"Always." They walk to the door and bang loudly, the bodyguard opens he door and stares them up and down, Jade is hanging of Mark smiling seductively, Mark hides his surprise at how well she does it and smiles once the guard opens the door further for them to walk in. Jade winks at him then turns to Mark,

"I've had practice, I'm old remember," she whispers to him as if reading his thoughts. Which she probably was. Marks holds her to him tighter as if showing everyone in there that she was his, she smiles at him and tightens her grip around him,

"So see anyone who you think could help?" he asks, Jade looks around then spots a couple in the corner, straight away she knows they are both shapeshifters,

"Maybe them, lets go ask," she leads Mark over to the couple, who look up at them as they approach,

"Hi" Jade says sweetly lifting a hand as a wave, "We're looking for a guy names Thierry," she tells them, they both look at each other then back at them, feeling a little worried Mark adds,

"He's head of circle daybreak, we find of wanna do something about that," Jade looks up at him, this time being surprised with how well he can sound dangerous, he smirks down at her feeling her gaze upon him. The two shape shifters look at each other once again then the female looks at them,

"Sure we know where he is, come with us," they lead the couple out to the back of the club, into an alley. The female turns to her boyfriend and nods, suddenly she pins Mark up against the wall, as the male pins Jade.

"Shit!" Mark shouts in shock, "Wow ok, calm down," he puts his hands up in surrender. The female smirks,

"You try to hurt Thierry you gotta go through us," Jade eyes the female sceptically,

"You know Thierry?" she asks in a soft voice, the female shape shifter glimpses over at Jade,

"Yes, and we don't appreciate anyone wanting to hurt him, do we Galen," she looks at the male named Galen. Galen turns to Jade and nods,

"No we don't," he says trying to sound as dangerous as the female, Jade smiles then looks at Mark,

"This will easier than we thought," Mark nods unsure, the female looks between the two of them who appear to be anything but scared, Mark looked worried and Jade looked extremely happy considering the position they were in.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" she asks getting annoyed,

"We don't want to hurt Thierry, we said to stop anyone from getting suspicious about us, we haven't really got time for a fight," she says pointedly, "We need his help, Ash Redfern sent us," she finishes. The shape shifters looks at each then drop the both of them simultaneously but still keep their guard up,

"Ash Redfern?" Galen asks looking at Jade, Mark steps toward Jade and puts a protective arm around her,

"Yes, he's in Briar Creek, and well he's in trouble. Mary Lynette… his soul mate and her 'boyfriend' has him captive, along with my sisters. Or as least that's what we think has happened, we sorta left before they went back in," she finishes. Galen looks at his partner,

"Keller, we better take them to Thierry," he tells her. Keller nods then indicated them to follow her.


	11. Ashs Plan

Chapter 11 – Ashs Plan

Mary Lynette stormed down the corridor of her old high school with nothing but revenge in her mind, well that and her new realisation that Ash is her soul mate and that she actually does love him.

"Mary Lynette!" she hears as she continues on her quest to kill the one that turned her,

'_Mare stop!' _this time the voice was in her head, the shout echoes in her mind and she slows down allowing those following her to catch up. Ash grabs her shoulder stopping her in her tracks and turns her around to face him, "Mare listen to me, if you confront Kyle now, he'll kill you." Ash tells her, Mary Lynette smiles sweetly at him,

"Ash, he cant defeat me, I can kill him," she tells him as if he should know that already. Kestrel shakes her head and steps in,

"Listen Mare, if that were true do you really think he would have kept you around, better yet, put you in charge of this 'lair'" she says indicating with her fingers her sarcasm about this being a lair. Mare tilts her head to the side and rolls her eyes, obvious to everyone that she is still different to the Mar Lynette they knew and loved. But that was to be expected after everything she had been through,

"Listen guys, I will kill this guy, now that I know the truth I can win. He cant control me anymore. And like you said Kes, I'm in charge of this 'lair'…" she uses the same finger movement as Kestrel had, "So the vampires, the shape shifters and the werewolves will do as I say, they're too scared not to," she turns to go but Ash holds his grip on her shoulder.

"Will you listen to yourself!" he shouts, shock fills Mary Lynettes features,

"Excuse me?"

"You cant defeat them. _He_ controls this place, not you. He was in control of you which means he is in control of them," he sighs heavily and shakes his head, "The only way to defeat this guy is to… make him think nothing has changed," he finally says. Mary Lynette is taken aback,

"You mean to act like I don't remember you, or them or anything that I care about. To act like I don't _care_ at all, about what happens to the people I love, you have got to be joking." She laughs bitterly and tries to get out of his grip, he holds her firmly,

"I don't like it anymore than you do Mare, but if we're going to defeat this guy we have got to make him believe he is still in control," From behind him Kestrel and Rowan silently agree with him, "If he finds out you are in control, he'll make you forget again, or kill you. We have to play it safe, empty this place of all night worlders, find a way. Then at least we'll only have to deal with him, then find a way to make him weak, anything that will make him weak. That you know will take his mind of us, then we can attack," he finishes explaining his plan looking into Mary Lynettes eyes hoping she will understand,

"Your asking me to go back to him, to treat him how I have been since he changed me, to love him." She says quietly finding it hard to keep all her raw emotions in check, Ash looks down feeling her pain and anger,

"Only for a little while, if it works this should all be finished by morning," he tells her. Mary Lynette takes in a deep breathe and lets it out slowly trying to calm her self.

"Fine, I'll do it. But Ash… I only know one way to distract him…. And… you wont like it," she tells him sadly. Ash looks at her with understanding knowing what that one way is,

"I know, but maybe it doesn't have to go that far," he says with hope but very little of it. Mary Lynette smiles sadly then finally gives Ash the hug he had been waiting for since he arrived back in Briar Creek. Rowan and Kestrel smile as they watch their brother and once again blood sister hug,

"I hope this works," Kestrel whispers to Rowan,

"So do I,"

"Thierry, you have company," shouts Keller as she walks into Thierrys house leading the two vampires towards the main meeting room where Thierry greets all his guests. She gestures for them to take a seat,

"Thanks," says Mark politely feeling a little uneasy in a house full of night people no matter how much they claim they are the good guys. "Will Thierry be long we're shorter in a hur…" before he can finish Thierry walks through the door cutting him of,

"A hurry, of course you are. Now then, how can I help you?" he asks sitting behind the desk that the two chairs faced, Mark looks at Jade who decides to take charge,

"We need all the man… and woman power you can give us to go back to Briar Creek," she tells him simply. Thierry looks up at Keller and raises an eyebrow, then back at Jade

"Ash sent you I take it? He was always very demanding," he jokes not realising the seriousness of the situation, Jade frowns losing her patience,

"Listen, Mary Lynette, his soul mate, has taken over Briar Creek, we were trying to deal with the situation before Ash got back but obviously we failed, now she and Kyle the jerk that made her have Ash and my sisters and no doubtable killing them as we speak so if you don't mind could we just get on with it," Thierry who now looked in a state of shock was standing from his chair and obviously sending a mental message out to… someone in the house. From the top floors they could hear tapping of feet on the floorboards then suddenly a girl walks through the door,

"Rashel and Quinn are getting ready, as are Morgead and Jez, and obviously you two will be going and I've got someone calling back James and Poppy now. They should get here in a matter of minutes, they couldn't have got too far," the girl rambles out in one breathe. Thierry nods appreciatively,

"Thank you Hanner, Hanner here is my soul mate. And as she has made quite obviously we will be ready to move out in a couple of minutes. I'll get them to get my plane ready as to get you there quicker," Thierry grabs his phone and tell the person on the other end to prep his plane then hung up, "Now then if you could explain to me one more time while we wait for James and Poppy to arrive, that would be very helpful." Jades takes a deep breathe accepting that it will take a few minutes to get everyone ready and begins to explain the past years events with Thierry.

"Mary Lynette where have you been?" Kyle asks as Mary Lynette walks into there room, which had once been the teachers lounge, now it consisted of a couple of chairs, a stolen TV, a stolen bed and a fridge storing some packaged blood from the old hospital. Mary Lynette forces a smile onto her face and walks over toward the window trying not to make eye contact, Kyle follows her and wraps his arms around her waist and kisses her neck. A look of disgust fills Mary Lynettes expression but she quickly hides it,

"I…I was thinking, if we got rid of all those annoying lackies we could have the place to ourselves," she says trying her hardest to sound seductive. Kyle takes the bait easily and turns her around in his arms,

"I love the idea, but what about the prisoner, I wouldn't want _him_ escaping again," he tells her with disgust in his voice, Mary Lynette fights to urge to hit him and just does the best evil smile she can manage,

"He wont, you were far too strong for him, I doubt he's even woke up yet, but till if he does, what better thing to wake up to than the sounds of us making our fun," she strokes his cheek. Kyle goes to bite her finger but she takes it away from his face and turns back to the window, "Well? What do you think?" she asks hiding the hope in her voice. Kyle smiles and mentally tell the entire night world that were on the property to piss off, in the nicest way possible of course. Once he sensed that they had all gone and that the only life force on the property was the prisoner. Kyle wraps his arms around Mary Lynette and bites down softly on her neck,

"You ready?" he asks whispering into her neck, Mary Lynette closes her eyes and hopes that Ash will be quick,

"Yeh," she says sadly then turns round in his arms allowing him to meet her lips with his own.

Rowan and Kestrel who had left the school to make sure every night worlder were leaving soon entered into the corridors once again and walk towards the meeting stop to find Ash sitting on the floor head in his hands,

"Ash?" Rowan whispers as they approach, Ash looks up at them and anger and pain and regret is apparent on his face,

"She's ready," he tells them, having had Mary Lynette send him a message a little while before they showed, "Didn't take her long," he tells them bitterly.

"Ash this was your idea, I'm sure she's not doing anything… that bad," Kestrel tells him. Ash laughs bitterly then stands up,

"Yeh sure. Not like its anything new to them," Rowan and Kestrel look at one another then back at Ash who had already turned away from them,

"Come on lets go," Ash says as they head towards the old teachers lounge.


	12. Torture

It doesn't seem like anyone is reading this story as I haven't received any reviews. As I do have other things to do and I only write the story as I thought others would like it, I will stop writing it if no1 is reading it. If you are reading it then please review as I really like the story and want to continue it but I do need some encouragement from you all.

So please review!!!!

Chapter 12 - Torture

In the teachers lounge Mary Lynette was straddling Kyles waist and bearing her fangs in a wicked smile,

"I think you have been a bad boy," she purrs down at him. He smiles evilly up at her and shrugs,

"Well what are you going to do about it?" he asks smirking. Mary Lynette looks up towards the door to the lounge and smiles,

"Well I did have a few things in mind…" she smiles bad down at him, then back to the door "But I think I'll let them have their turn first," before Kyle can react Mary Lynette throws a hard punch at his face and knocks him out. Ash, Rowan and Kestrel rush in the room having allowed Mary Lynette to give them the opportunity to tie him up bu letting her punch him.

"Well that was gross," Mary Lynette says spitting on the floor and wiping her mouth, "Remind me to cut his tongue out later," Ash glares at her slightly, still not liking her attitude, his Mary Lynette wouldn't have even thought of that, a kick in the shin sure but not cutting tongues outs.

"Are you ok?" he asks walking towards her with his arm outstretched to take her into a hug, Mary Lynette walks past him towards where Rowan and Kestrel have tied him up,

"I will be," she says.

Finally they were on the plane, all the fighters that Thierry had promised were ready and they were all heading to Briar Creek, Jade and Mark, Thierry and Hannah, James and Poppy, Keller and Galen, Rashel and Quinn and Morgead and Jez. Jade sighed looking out the window of the plane,

"So your rich?" Mark asks trying to keep himself calm, and of course being generally interested. Thierry smiles and nods,

"Yes," Hannah smiles,

"of course its easy to be, being as old as he is" Mark raises an eyebrow,

"and how olds that?" he asks curiously.

"well lets just say theres nothing that has happened in the past that I wouldn't know about," Mark nods slowly,

"Oh, that old." Jade rolls her eyes at Marks shocked expression at how old Thierry was,

_Get used to it Mark, you may live to be that old too_

Mark turns to her having heard her thought and his expression turns from shocked to completely unreadable, which makes Jade smirks. Before anything else can be said, Thierry stands up from his seat,

"We're nearly there, you should start getting ready," with that he walks of to the back of the plane where the others were sitting chatting,

"You all ready?" he asks.

"Ready boss," Poppy says light heartedly, "One thing how many do you spose we'll find down there?" she asks more seriously, Thierry shrugs his shoulders,

"Well from what Jade and Mark have told me, a lot."

"Don't matter how many are down there, there aint gunna be any when i'm down with them," Rashel says inspecting her stake and 'claws' Thierry smiles at her fiery attitude,

"Good, but be careful. And remember, there are four vampires down there that are not to be harmed," he reminds them a little worried for the safety of those they came to rescue.

"Uh Thierry how exactly will we know which are the good guys?" Galen asks,

"They'll be the ones that are not killing and torturing everyone," Jade says having walked into the room.

Back in Briar Creek screams can be heard from the teachers lounge, Kyle who was at the mercy of 4 vampires…. 4 extremely pissed of vampires was now pouring with blood from all the wounds they had caused him with there newly found weapons of the baseball bat and hockey stick.

"You stupid bitch, you cant kill me. I own you, no matter what you believe you will always belong to me," Kyles laughs through the pain, Mary Lynette who was now standing by the window after having had the bat taken of her was now charging for Kyle once more, not caring if she had no weapon to inflict pain with,

"I'll kill you!" she shouts, before she can reach him Ash stops her in her tracks by taking her in his arms,

"Shhh, calm down, your letting him win. Don't let him win, your strgoner than he is remember that," Kyle starts to laugh histerically,

"Your all fools, she isn't stronger than me, so many times she has been able to remember, even if it were fragments she was able to, but I was still able to control her. Make her do anything I wanted her to, make her kill her family, torture her sisters, even her poor brother that begged for…" in one instant Ash was standing over Kyle who no longer was sitting on the chair he was tied to but now lie on the floor with a broken nose,

"Shut up," he tells him dangerously. Kyle laughs despite the threat then looks up at him,

"What's wrong Ash afraid she's turning into you. Or at least what you used to be. Your pathetic, redemption, ha. You didn't even need to redeem yourself, after just a couple of months of you being gone, Mary Lynette was bathing in the blood of her loved ones." this time I was Mary Lynette who punched him, and the force of the blow once again made him slowly drift of into the darkness.

"Give me the bat," she says calmly with her arm out stretched to Kestrel whose holding the bat, she eyes Ash who shakes his head, "Give me the bat" she now shouts it, Kestrel shakes her head,

"No Mare," with rage in her eyes and the taste of blood on her mind she turns on Ash knowing her was the reason she had not been given the bat.

"I am going to kill him, why do you want him alive, why don't you want to kill him! She shouts with anger and tears swelling up in her eyes,

"Mare, we need him," Ash says slowly hating to have to admit it, Mary Lynette stand wide eyed staring at him,

"We what?"

"We need him Mare, although I hate to admit it, but he has put a spell on you, for one thing your memories, you may be able to remember but its still hard I can see it in your eyes, and two… his control on you…."

"He does not control me!" she shouts the tears falling from her eyes now, Ash looks at her with sadness in his own eyes for making her cry,

"I know you don't want to believe it Mare, but look at you. All you can feel is hatred, and anger. his power and control is making you like that, you can only feel what he wants you to, nothing more. That's how he was able to control you so easily, so we need him. We need to get him to reverse the spell, to break it," Mare just shakes her head not wanting to believe what Ash was saying but finding it difficult, he right, all she can feel is hatred, pain, anger, nothing else, no joy that Ash was back, no love for her sisters or for him. Although she knew she loved them she just cant feel it, cant show it.

"Fine," is all she replies with and storms out of the room, Ash goes to follow her but Rowan stops him,

"Let be alone for a minute," Ash just stars at the door his soul mate had stormed out of pin apparent on his face.

Next chapter soon if I get reviews!!!!! 


	13. Mary Lynettes Plan

Ok I thought I would finish the story, although I have not written in years. I can't really remember where I was going with this to be honest but I will try and make it as fitting as I can, having read through the previous chapters.

Mary Lynette walks down the corridor of her school, she looks at all the mayhem she and her follows had caused, tears well up in her eyes.

"What have I done?" she whispers as she walks into the cell Ash had been kept in with all the decaying bodies of past meals. "I'm sorry" she looks at the horror struck faces of the bodies and drops to her knees. Her body starts to shake convulsively as anger wells up inside her, she lifts her head and anger pierces through her eyes, "I'll stop this, I'll kill the monster responsible..." she looks down at her hands covered in Kyles blood from when she helped torture him, images flash through her mind from all the times she tortured and killed her friends, family and people she knew, "...I'll kill **everyone** responsible."

Mary Lynette stands up and walks out the cell towards where Kyle is held hostage with a new plan in mind. A plan filled with pain, hatred and blood.

Ash paces back and forth waiting for Mary Lynette to return, being torn between going after her and not wanting to smother her, he reluctantly waits. Rowan and Kestrel are moving a still unconscious Kyle into a cupboard, gagged and bound to reframe him from causing anymore pain to their family.

"I wonder how Jade and Mark are getting on?" Rowan thinks aloud, Kestrel shrugs and slams the door of the cupboard closed,

"Hopefully better than we are." She answers sourly, Rowan looks at Kestrel a little confused,

"We're not doing that bad, the schools empty of night worlders and that jerk is securely locked away..."

"But we still need him to release his hold on Mare and I seriously cant see that happening," Kestrel finished, slouching into a chair by the window. Rowan sighs in defeat knowing Kestrel has a point, she looks at Ash who is staring out the window on the opposite wall to where Kestrel sit, his face withdrawn and full of pain,

"Ash?" Rowan calls trying to get his attention, Ash moves his head slightly to the side acknowledging his sister, "Kestrels right Ash, how are we going to get Kyle to release Mary Lynette?" she asks carefully not wanting to cause anymore anguish than there already is. Ash turns back to the window,

"I don't know... but we have to do something. I'm not leaving Mare like that, I wont." Rowan nods in answer and walks over to join Kestrel leaving Ash to his thoughts.

Mary Lynette walks into the room and sees the divide between the three of them, she takes a deep breath and starts over to Ash, Ash turns to her before she even reaches him, he takes her in his arms and gives her a soft kiss on the lips,

"Mary Lynette, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you like that, I'm..." Mary Lynette puts a finger to his lips to stop him,

"Ash..." she looks into his eyes, "I need your help."

Kyle comes back to consciousness with a start, fury blazes in his eyes, he jumps to his feet and punches through the door feebly holding him in this room,

"Stupid wankers, did they really think this would hold me, I'll kill them all, and Mary Lynette, well, I'm looking forward to seeing you again my dear." Kyle leaves the room, which they had stored him, not even tied up. Kyle reaches out to all the night worlders he had sent of to return to the lair immediately and he left the room heading toward the main school hall to await his followers return.

"Can someone please tell me why we untied that prick?" Kestrel asks angrily as the four vampires leave the school building and head into the forest. Mary Lynette with pure determination in her eyes answers bitterly,

"Because I said so, now shut up." Ash, Kestrel and Rowan all look at her concerned,

"Mare?" Ash starts wary, Mary Lynette looks at him but doesn't slow her pace, she raises an eyebrow waiting for him to continue,

"What?" she snaps when he simply stares at her,

"Are you ok? this was your plan but you seem a bit..."

"Your being a bitch" Kestrel states flatly, Mary Lynette stop and glares at Kestrel, "Look luv, I know how you feel, I know how pissed you are and I know what Kyle has done to you, but we are here to help," Mary Lynette takes a deep breath and closes her eyes,

"Fine, if you want to help, just do what I say ok?" Mary Lynette turns to keep walking not waiting for a response, Rowan stops Kestrel who was about to argue,

"Kes don't, whatever she has planned, might help her. Lets see how it plays out." Kestrel glares at her sister, but relaxes a little

"Fine ok, but I want to know this plan of hers, coz right now, it sucks. All the night worlders will be on their way back and Jade is nowhere to be seen,"

From ahead of the group Mary Lynette stops and turns back to the group,

"Where did Jade and Mark go?" she asks, "Is Mark ok?" no worry escapes her lips, as if she didn't even care what the answer will be, Ash takes a step toward her, and quickly explains where their brother and sister have gone. Mary Lynette nods,

"Good, that will help, when they get close tell them where to meet us," she turns and continues walking toward her destination.

"So..." Kestrel starts, "Where are we meeting them?" she asks still trying to get the plan explained.

"Home" Mary Lynette states.


	14. Get a grip

Mary Lynette walks through the doors to what used to be her home, pain flashes across her face and see takes in all the carnage in the house. As soon as it appeared it was gone and her eyes blazed with hate,

"Come on" she says and walks into the living room, Ash, Kestrel and Rowan follow behind her uneasy, Ash goes to Mary Lynettes side and wraps an arm around her waist,

"Are you ok?" he whispers in her ear. Mary Lynette looks up at him, mfor a second he was sure he saw love in her eyes but it soon disappeared and was replaced with a hard look,

"Sure, now how close are Jade and Mark?" she asks moving away from Ash and looking out the window. Ash sighs and hangs his head. Even with her new understanding, the fact that Kyle had brainwashed her and she in fact loved him, she was still distant and was unable to show that love.

_I will make this better Mare, I promise. I'll bring you back to me_

Mary Lynette turns to look at him as if she sensed what he has thought, but she simply raised a questioning eyebrow,

"They're on their way." Rowan answers seeing Ash's face. Mare looks at Ash follwong Rowans gaze, she sighs and walks over to Ash, she puts a hand on his arm,

"Hey," she smiles, not her old sweet smile but as best she could do, "You ok?" she asks again with not much concern in her voice, she looks down knowing her cold she sounds, before he answers she continues, "Look Ash, I know I'm a bitch..."

"No.." he tries to interrupt but she stops him,

"Shut up, let me talk." She tells him, glaring. "I am a bitch, I do love you though." Ash smiles, "But I cant show it and I know that hurts you. I'm sorry for that, but heres the deal, I want this over, I want to stop kyle and all those assholes who followed him... us. And I need you for that so please, stop moping around over me and focus." By the end of the speech Mary Lynette was fully business like, she shakes her head, "Sorry I mean..." Ash stops her this time,

"Dont, I known what you mean. Lets end this, then I'll show you everything you've missed... and then some." He smirks trying to pull himself together. Mary Lynette smirks and passion flashes through her eyes, she may not be able to show love, but lust is an entirely different story. Apparently Kyle liked that part of her. The passion in her eyes fade when she remembers the full extent of her plan.

_Sorry Ash, If all goes to plan, I wont be around for you to fulfil that promise._

She sighs at that thought and turns back to the window, She thinks back to her little torture session with Kyle and smiles waiting for her brother and sister to return. Then the real torture begins.

Jade and Mark lead the members of the secret circle to the meeting point, surprised that they would choose Mary Lynettes house, considering the situation they're in. Surely, Kyle would look their first. Or not if he thought she couldn't deal with the memory of what happened there. Mark closes his eyes at the thought of what Mary Lynette had done to their parents, he opens his yes and and walks into the nightmare. When he walks in and sees his sister by the window, face cold as it was the day she slaughtered their family but lacking any satisfaction or excitement, he sighs with some relief.

"Mare?" he says walking slowly toward his sister, Mary Lynette turns to her brother and smiles, Mark eyes show some sadness seeing nothing of his old sister in the smile,

"Mark..." he eyes widen, "They turned you," she says flatly, Mark nods and walks a little closer,

"They had to, or I'd be... well it's not that bad," Mary Lynette turns away from him,

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you." She says in a matter of fact tone. Mark flinches at how cold she sounded, he looks at Ash,

"It's the best she can do... for now." He tells him. Mark understands and closes the gap between himself and his sister,

"I love you Mare," he pulls her into a tight hug, Mary Lynette stares in shock, but returns the hug, with stiff arms.

"Uh yeh, I love you too," she says and struggles out of his grip. She looks at his face which appears torn between happiness and pain, she looks at the floor, "I'm sorry Mark, for everything, I promise you, I will make everyone pay for what we did," she stops herself hoping she hadn't let her plan slip, she looks at Mark and sees he is nodding in agreement.

"Yes, we will" he tells her. She looks over to Ash whose expression had changed as soon as the words had slipped from her mouth, he was staring intently as her face, eyes accusing and sad, Mary Lynette turns away from him,

_Shit, this could be a problem._


	15. Deception

Once the plan was explained to everyone, it was a matter of waiting for the right time. Mary Lynette quietly escaped the room and left to be alone in her bedroom. She sat on her bed looking at a broken blood stained photo of her parents, the smiles on their faces nothing like the last sight she had seen of them.

"Mum, dad, I'm so sorry. I... I love you so much. I wish I could... show how much I love everyone but every time I try, nothing but hate or rage or just nothing comes out. I cant feel anything but hate, I know I love but I cant feel it, it's so stupid I hate it, I promise you I will kill Kyle and then I'll kill everyone else that hurt you, everyone. No one should get away with that, not even m..." Mary Lynette stops in her tracks and looks up glaring, "How dare you," she says through clenched teeth, Ash walks through the door having been standing just outside her room out of sight, once again her ranting reframed her form sensing him earlier. Ash stands in the doorway arms crossed over his chest,

"So, you really are plan to do something stupid," he says angrily. Mary Lynette stands up and crosses the room to him,

"How dare you, you had no right to listen in on me," she goes to hit him but he catches her hand mid swing, he pushes her over to the bed and pins her down, eyes blazing with anger and pain.

"How dare I, how dare you. How dare you even think of killing yourself, after everything, after all we've been through, I've just got you back and this is what you plan to do," he shouts at her. Mary Lynette glares up at him, hands pinned behind her head unable to try for another swing at him,

"Oh come on Ash, do you really believe I would kill myself, please..."

"Shut up, I know you Mare, Thats exactly what you would do, I heard you downstairs, you slipped up and you know it. And I heard you just now, 'no one should get away with that, not even me' that what you were saying." He says through clenched teeth. Mary Lynette looks away from him angrily, Ash holds both her hands in his right hand and uses his other to turn her face to look at him, she fight against his hand but is unable to resist for long, she glares up at him. Mary Lynette glares into Ashs eyes, slowly her glare thaws as she sees the pain and love in his eyes,

"Mary Lynette, I love you. And I will not let you do this to yourself"

"You cant stop me," she says quietly. Ash sighs and lets go of her chin allowing her to look away from him. He releases her hands and allows her to sit up, he collapses on the floor below her and sighs heavily. Mary Lynette stands up and walks over to the dresser to place the image of her parents safely in the middle of the dresser.

"I need to do this Ash, what I did, I cant undo, I cant forget. And I shouldn't . No matter what Kyle did to me, it was still me." Ash jumps to his feet and in a flash is standing in front of her,

"No it wasn't." He says sternly. "You would never do anything like this, it was not you. Kyle will pay, his followers will pay, don't you think you've paid enough?" he asks stroking his finger down her cheek, she looks up at him eyes softer but still cold,

"I killed my parents Ash, I could never pay enough for that," she says simply. Ash shakes his head, but doesn't say anything, instead he touches his lips softly with hers, holding her close. Mary Lynette wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him closer, Unable to stop himself he lifts her up and intensifies the kiss. Mary Lynette wraps her legs around his waist and pulls his even closer, a small smile escapes her lips,

"How could I forget this?" she jokes as she pulls his lips back to her. Ash sighs and pulls her away a fraction,

"Mare listen," Mary Lynette shakes her head and pulls him closer joining their lips once again,

"No more talk, if this is the last time we have together, well I'm gunna make the most of it," she says going in for another kiss. Ash pulls her away there and then and drops her to her feet, Mary Lynette glares at him and pouts,

"Well that was rude," she says smirking now. Ash walks over to the window and takes a deep breath,

"This is not the last time together Mare, I wont let you do this," Mare slowly stalks toward him,

"You know the plan Ash, you and the rest of them donw there will raid the school and kill anyone moving, the humans in there are already dead by now, no way Kyle would have been able to keep them alive after that, he would have needed a way to let out his anger. So you'll kill everyone in there, no survivors and I'll go for Kyle." She stops behind his back and puts her arms around his waist,

"We will go after Kyle" he corrects her turning around to face her. She smiles up at her, a glint of deception in her eyes, Ash's eyebrows furrow together, "Mare, you are not going along," he tells her. She smiles up at him and nods,

"Of course not, now what time is it?" she asks, Ash looks at his watch and looks back down at her,

"Not long now, we'll be getting ready soon," Mary Lynette nods and realises herself from his hold.

"Ok, well then..." she spins round and throws a hard blow to his head then continues into a kick to his gut, and one final punch sending him to the floor unconscious.

"Sorry Ash, but this is my plan. You have your part and I have mine." She turns from the room and walks down stairs, Rowan greets her at the bottom,

"Where's Ash?" she asks looking up the stairs, Mare shrugs her shoulders,

"he'll be down in a minute, you guys should get ready, we leave soon," she tells her. Rowan nods unsure and leaves to get everyone ready. Mary Lynette heads to where all her weapons are waiting for her, she straps them in, hiding knives In her boots, straps to her legs and tucked through her belt on her trousers, she turns to the doorway that leads to the living room where everyone are preparing for the fight.

"You know what to do, I trust you'll get it done." She says to herself and walks silently out the door.


	16. You can die

Kyle sat relaxed in his chair in the schools main hall, with his followers surrounding him and guarding the building on all sides,

"Sir, how do you know she will return?" asks one of his followers, Kyle finds the culprit and glares daggers at him, the vampire gulps wishing he had kept his mouth shut, ever since their return Kyle had been far too easy to piss of and already 5 followers were mummified corpses in the corner. "S...sorry sir," he stammers hoping to calm him. Kyle smirks evilly,

"No need, that is an understandable question," a couple followers raise eyebrows warily, "You see, she wont be able to stay away, the hate will consume her until she can release it... on me." He laughs to himself imagining the confrontation with his dear Mary Lynette, "Mmmm this will be fun,"

"Yes, it will" Kyles eyes search across the hall to the source of the voice, Mary Lynette stand with her hand choking a shape shifter, she smiles evilly at Kyle and twists her hand to snap the shape shifters neck,

"My dear Mary Lynette, what took you so long?" Kyle asks lounging in his chair unfazed, Mary Lynette walks slowly forward,

"I did have to take care of a few of your guards first, but hey, a little warm up never hurt anybody... well except them" she stalks forward some more and the followers guarding Kyle tense for an attack, Mary Lynette smirk at then one by one, Kyle waves his hand in the air,

"Leave us," he says happily, the guards look at him sceptically, "leave us!" he shouts. The guards scramble to leave the room and guard the rest of the building, some staying close by in case things went sideways for their leader.

Kyle stands up slowly from his chair and walks over to a table with a glass full of fresh blood, he puts it to his nose and sniffs the fresh scent in,

"Well my dear, what can I do for you?" he takes a sip from the glass and eyes her, she stalks slowly toward him, closing the distant inch by inch, She stops a good distance away from him and smiles bitterly,

"You can die,"

"Where is she?!" shouts Ash as he runs down the stairs and into the living room, all eyes turn on him in confusion,

"Who?... Mary Lynette?" Rowan asks, Ash stares at her intently,

"Where is she?" he shouts again,

"She's getting ready, she should be in the hallway..." Ash runs through the lower part of the house and back to the living room,

"We're going now!" he shouts heading for the door and grabbing his gear as he goes,

"Why, where's Mary Lynette?" Asks Mark confused now, Ash turns to him and sees concern in his new brothers eyes,

"She's gone to face Kyle," he tells Mark, Marks eyes open wide with shock and fear for his sister,

"What! Why didn't she wait, whats the matter with her?" he shouts grabbing all his gear as fast as he can, he stops dead when he sees the look in Ashs eyes, his gut twisting in a pain at what he saw,

"she wants to die." Ash answers quietly and rushes out the door, with everyone following now more than ever ready for the fight ahead.

Mary Lynette lay blooded on the floor while Kyle slowly crushes her ribs one at a time with his foot,

"My dear Mare, did you really think you could fight me, defeat me," he laughs out loud at what is a hilarious joke to him, Mary Lynette fights to lift his foot in agony as another rib snaps under his force, Kyle lifts his foot and allows Mary Lynette to move, she rolls onto her stomach holding her side where several ribs had been broken,

"I'll kill you," she spits. Kyle laugh and bends down to her level,

"You stupid little girl, you can barely move, how do you plan to..." Mary Lynette spins from her stomach on to her feet and throws a heavy punch under his chin sending him flying back across the room, Mary Lynette runs over to where he lands and lifts his by the neck and throws him into the wall,

"You asshole," she shouts, as she runs toward him again, Kyle jumps to his feet and ends up behind her holding her in a deadly grip around the neck,

"Now that was rude my dear, I was talking," Mary Lynette reaches her knife tucked away through her belt and goes to plunge it into his gut, before it meets his flesh his hand is covering hers and he twists her wrist until it snaps and her grip on the knife is broken. A scream sounds around the hall and Kyle twists her broken wrist making the pain even more intense, "You can't win," he whispers in her ear. Mary Lynette looks around the hall and sees the dead faces of all the prisoners they had stored for meal times, a fiery blaze sparks through her eyes and she whips her head back into his nose, she hears a break and uses her good arm to elbow him square in the gut, his hold loosens and she spins around, now with her ankle knife in her good hand and plunges in into his gut. A furious roar escapes his lips as she twists the knife side to side and finally kicks him to the floor.

"You bitch," he spits, holding his gut which is bleeding all over the floor.

Ash leaves the rest of the group to fight the horde of guards defending the school to find Mary Lynette, he hears her screams and goes running in that direction, realising he is heading for the hall. He hears shouts and screams from behind him which belong to the followers who are being torn down rather easily by the team he now has fighting with him. He ignores every other sound around him except for the faint sound of his soul mate, fighting not far from him now.

Mary Lynette stood over Kyle with a look of pure hatred in her eyes,

"I win" she says simply, she goes to give the final blow across his throat when a sharp pain shoots across her chest, she looks down in agony and sees her knife from her belt sticking out her chest, Kyle smiles up at her, hand tightly around the handle of the knife having just slashed a gaping hole through her chest before plunging it deep into her chest an inch away from her heart, Mary Lynette loses balance as her blood pours down her chest to the floor, she stares down at his triumphant face and at that moment seeing the smug look of victory in his eyes, forgets the pain and finishes her last attack, and slashes her knife through his throat.

The look of satisfaction drains from his face and his eyes go blank, the blood pours over his body and drips onto the floor, Mary Lynette watches as the undead life of her maker drains from his face until finally he is gone. Mary Lynette smiles in relief, then collapses to the floor blood gushing from the gash in her chest. She looks down at the knife sticking out her chest and pulls it out in one big tug, she throws it to the floor,

"Mary Lynette, no" Ash enters the hall, and finds Mary Lynette covered in her own blood lying limp of the floor, he runs over to her and holds her to his body, "Mare, oh shit, Mare," he puts his hand over the hole in her chest trying to slow the bleeding, Mary Lynette looks up into his eyes with love,

"I can feel it," she says hoarsely, Ash looks at her fear stricken,

"What?" he asks tears beginning to well, Mary Lynette smiles and reaches up to cup his face,

"Love, I can feel how much I love you. Ash, my Ash, I'm sorry," a escapes her eye, she smiles up at him and pulls him down so his lips meet hers,

"I love you Mary Lynette,"

"Ash, my brother, Rowan, Jade, Kestrel are they?"

"They're ok, I don't hear anymore fighting, they won, it's over" Mary Lynette nods happily,

"Good, thank-you" she whispers, she looks up into his eyes which are still frantic with fear for her life, blood was still flowing from her body and the knife looks to have scrapped her heart, or hit close enough to cause serious damage, "Ash, kiss me," Ash looks down at her and sees her eyes empty, as if she were giving up,

"Mare please hold on," Mare smiles up at him warmly,

"Please Ash, just shut up and kiss me," and with her last bit of strength she pulls his head down to hers and finds his lips with hers.

The rest of the team find their way to the hall to discover Ash and Mary Lynette in a bloody embrace on the floor, Ash is leaning over Mary Lynette,

"God I hope she's ok" Mark says walking slowly over to them, Ash breaks the kiss when he hears them approach, he looks up at the team that helped them destroy the devils playground,

"She needs help, she's bleeding and..."

"Ash," Rowan stops him and points to Mary Lynette who is lying limp on the floor.


	17. A welcome back they deserve

Ok well I was going to leave it there, and let you make your own decision as to whether that meant she died or they were able to keep her alive, but I thought that would be mean. So heres a nice ending for ya.

It's been 2 weeks since the fight and things were getting sorted, though the entire town was deserted of human life, the secret circle were kind enough to help with the clear up of the dead night worlders and to help tidy up the town. A lot of work still needed doing but at least things were looking up.

Ash wonders through the town watching as helpers from the secret circle help his sisters and brother tidy the town up, there were still alot of bodies that were being found, sadly not all of them were of the night worlders they had destroyed during the fight, most were in fact residence of the town. As he make his way back to Mary Lynettes house he thinks bad to the night 2 weeks ago which had caused so much pain.

_Mary Lynette lay limp on the floor of the hall with all her family and the secret circle looking down on her lifeless body. Ash shakes her to try and wake her but with no success, _

"_What can we do?" he asks fear clear in his voice, _

"_she needs blood, it may not work but if you give her your blood, it may be strong enough to help her heal, she's too weak her body's lost too much blood and it needs more to heal." Thierry explains walking over to Ash, he gives him a knife and Ash takes it and slashes his wrist, he puts it to Mary Lynettes lips and allows the blood to flow down her throat._

Ash walks into what was Mary Lynettes house, now it was everyones house, for now anyway. He makes his way upstairs and walks quietly into Mary Lynettes room, inside lying still on the bed lay Mary Lynette, the gash on her chest was still visible but had healed some but she had not regained consciousness. Considering vampires don't have comas, Ash figured it was by her choosing, she had wanted to die, welcomed, believed that it was the only way to pay for what she had done, but Ash had saved her. His blood has been enough to help her body start the healing process and save her life. Ash walks over to her bedside and sits on the chair that was always filled by one of them, Mark was there nearly as much as Ash and Kestrel, Rowan and Jade had spent hours in this chair talking to Mary Lynette hoping she listened. Just as he was about to do now,

"Mare?" he starts knowing she will not answer, "This cant go on, you cant stay like this. If you think this is what you deserve your wrong, you ended this, you stopped it, and you were willing to die to do that... you wanted to die. But listen Mare this isn't right, do you really think your making amends by staying like this, by putting Mark and your sisters through this, they love you and your hurting them every minute you stay like this. All they want is to come back to them," he stops and takes her hand putting it to his lips, "All I want is you to come back to me, I love you Mary Lynette, and nothing you do, or have done will change that." Ash stands up and moves from his chair to lay on the bed next to Mary Lynette, she wraps his arm around her and holds her close as he does every other night, "I love you Mare," he says again before settling down for another long night of silence and nightmares.

'_Ash?' Mary Lynettes voice sounds in Ashs head, Ash looks around trying to find the source of the voice only to find emptiness, "Ash, please let me die," Ash closes his eyes and shakes his head,_

"_Mary Lynette you get out here right now, I am not leaving you, you hear me. Come out now!" Ash turns in circles trying to find Mary Lynette in the darkness, finally he sees her standing in the darkest corner of his mind. He runs over to her and takes him in his arms,_

"_Finally Mary Lynette, god, finally." He kisses her head as he holds her tight in his arms,_

"_I cant stay," she says sadly, he pulls them aprt enough to look at her face,_

"_Mare, stop please, you don't belong here, you belong with me, with your family," he tells her. A tear rolls down her cheek, _

"_I killed my family, I deserve this," Ash shakes his head and looks in her eyes, eyes filled with pain and regret, and love._

"_Mary Lynette, thats enough, you listen to me, I love you, we all love you. You may not think you deserve it but we all forgive you. We know it wasn't really you..."_

"_But.."_

"_No, no buts," Ash stops her, "if that was really you then why after you remembered love were you so determined to kill Kyle to stop him, it was him, he made you forget love, which made you able to kill, but that wasn't you. You are full of love, I see it in your eyes, and I know that your parents wouldn't want you doing this to yourself." Mary Lynette looks down tears now falling heavy,_

"_Ash please," she whispers,_

"_No, I'm not leaving you, if you stay like this, then so will i." He says flatly. Mary Lynette looks up into his eyes,_

"_No, you cant, you shouldn't. You don't deserve this,"_

"_Neither do you, so are we going to leave together, or both stay here?" he asks sternly. Mary Lynette closes her eyes sadly and defeated,_

"_I'm scared," he admits, he hugs her tightly and kisses her forehead,_

"_I know, I'm here, and I'll never leave you."_

Ash wakes up with tears in his eyes, another nightmare, but at least this one, he had almost won, If he had not woke up maybe she would have left with him. He closes his eyes and puts his free arm over his eyes,

"Oh Mare, please come back to me," he whispers.

"Ash?" a small voice says quietly in the darkness of the room, Ash moves his arm and looks toward the door, which was still closed and the room empty, all but him and...

"Mare?" he looks down at his soul mate in his arms, new tears welling up in his eyes, Mary Lynette looks up at him with tired eyes and a small smile shows on her face, "Mare" he says again and pulls her into a overwhelming embrace,

"Ash, uh do you mind letting me go, I'm as stiff as... well I'll let you use your imagination," she laughs to herself as she struggles out of his tight embrace. Ash lets her go and stands up with her and huge smile on his face,

"It wasn't a dream was it?" he asks staring at her intently like she might disappear any minute, she looks up at him and smiles,

"No it wasn't, I thought you might figure it out, but you've been so exhausted you must have overlooked the obvious, nightmares, thanks alot," he jokes walking around the room, Ash follows her with his eyes,

"You wouldn't come out, I had to leave you, everynight. That was a night," Mare stops and looks back at him,

"I'm sorry, I couldn't leave, im wouldn't have if you didn't threaten me," she tells him a little annoyed, Ash walks over to her and takes her hand,

"I would have stayed with you in there," he tells her,

"I know, thats why I came out, I couldn't let you do that," she lifts herself up onto her tiptoes and kisses his lips softly,

"I glad you came out, everyone will be so happy to see you. We all missed you," he tells her then continues the kiss. She smiles sadly into his lips and breaks the kiss,

"I'm leaving Ash," she tells him. Ash stops and looks down at her, eyes going hard,

"Not without me your not," he tells her and lifts her of her feet so she cant move,

"Ash, stop that, I have to go. I cant stay here, after what I did to everyone, I cant face them." She tells him. Ash nods slowly as if understanding,

"Right ok, MARK, KESTREL, ROWAN, JADE GET IN HERE" he shouts still with a tight grip of her, Mary Lynettes eyes open wide in horror,

"No, please let me go," she struggles against his grip but fails, after a few seconds the door flies open and Mark, kestrel, rowan and jade all rush in. Their eyes open wide in shock as they see Mary Lynette struggling against Ashs hold,

"Mare, your back" Mark runs to his sister and takes her from Ashs hold. Ash lets go easily hoping that the love shown by her family will help Mary Lynette forgive herself, Mark hugs Mare not letting her go,

"I'm so glad your ok, I was so worried," he says as he hugs her, he finally lets go to see her eyes filled with tears, "Mare you ok? did I hurt you?2 he asks worried looking for any sign that he had hurt her, she shakes her head,

"No, how... how can you touch me after what I did?" she asks crying now, Mark looks confused and looks at Ash for help, Ash stays quiet to allow Mark to answer her,

"Mare don't be silly, I love you. I know it wasn't you who did those things, we all do. I know you've been blaming yourself but please don't, it wasn't you." He tells her, Jade comes up to her side and puts a hand over Mary Lynettes shoulder,

"Welcome back Mare, we missed you. Give me a hug," before Mare can answer she is pulled into a hug by her new sister, she looks over at Rowan and Kestrel who are waiting patiently for their turn,

"Mare, you sure are a drama queen, making us worry like that come here girl," Kestrel says and pulls her into a tight hug, Mare smiles slightly feeling a slight bit of relief,

"Come here Mary Lynette," Rowan says after Kestrel releases her, Rowan wraps her arms around her softly, "Listen to us Mare, we really do love you, and we need you," she tells her quielt yin her ear making her voice soothing. Mary Lynette lets out a deep breath she didn't realise she was holding and looks around all the faces that are full of love and forgiveness, a small smile creeps onto her and tears fall from her eyes,

"I love you all, thankyou" she says, her legs finally give in and she finds herself held up by Ashs embrace,

"I think maybe she should get some rest, real rest," he says. Everyone nods and leaves the rooms, giving Mary Lynette one last hug before they go,

"I love you sis," Mark says before closing the door behind him.

Ash and Mary Lynette lay silent on the bed, Mary Lynette huddled snug next to Ash,

"Thank-you" she says after a while of silence, Ash smiles and kisses her forehead,

"Your welcome, so you still leaving?" he asks. Mary Lynette sits up and leans over him, she smiles down at him and kisses him softly on the lips,

"I think I'll stay, it seems you lot cant survive without me," she laughs, Ash chuckles and pulls her into a deep kiss positioning their bodies so that he is lying on top of her, he secures his weight on his arms so not to squash her, she smiles up at him and raises one eyesbrow,

"So... I remember you saying something about showing me what I've missed," she smiles widely as his eyes flash with passion, "and then some" she finishes as his lips find hers and she finally gives him the welcome back they both deserve.

Well there you go, hope you like it, it was difficult considering its been years since I started the story or read the books, hope I did a good job, or at least satisfactory lol. Well let me know what you think.


End file.
